Hall of Fame Member Biographies

Duane C. Anderson

While pursuing a career teaching history, unexpected opportunities provided Duane C. Anderson the challenge to make a difference in academic administration at three different institutions. He earned his Ph.D. in British History at the University of Oklahoma in 1976. Previously, he completed his Bachelor of Science in 1968 and Master of Arts in 1970 at the University of North Dakota, and an Associate of Arts at Bismarck Junior College in 1966. He served eleven years at El Reno Junior College and four years at Mesa State College in Colorado, before coming to East Central University (ECU) in 1990 as Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Graduate School. After revitalizing graduate programming and expanding off-campus offerings at Ardmore and McAlester, Anderson became Vice President for Academic Affairs in 1995 and was named Provost in 2006. During ECU’s Centennial Year 2009, he served as Interim President from January to June. As Interim President, he established a campaign to raise centennial endowment scholarship monies in honor of the institution’s 100-year birthday. The initial goal of five $15,000 scholarships was exceeded within a year as twenty-two scholarships worth more than $350,000 were established; ultimately the campaign raised a total of $1.4 million. During his time as ECU’s academic leader, he led an effort to infuse technology into the teaching and learning process, expanded off-campus and electronic course delivery, revised the General Education curriculum, instigated strategic planning and assessment of student learning, and established an aggressive external funding program. Anderson was instrumental in negotiating an innovative shared program delivery at Southeastern Oklahoma State University; students combined ECU’s nursing courses with Southeastern’s general education and science support courses to earn the ECU Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree. Anderson was active on the Council on Instruction of the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education, chairing the Electronic Media Committee for eleven years, and was a founding member of the Oklahoma Research Day Council. He retired from East Central University in 2015 as Provost and Professor of History.